


If on a Winter's Morning

by rideswraptors



Series: Trauma [2]
Category: Jurassic World (2015)
Genre: Gen, Not Beta Read, Post-Movie(s), Sisters, backstory on claire
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-08-29
Updated: 2015-08-29
Packaged: 2018-04-17 19:19:01
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,738
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4678316
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rideswraptors/pseuds/rideswraptors
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Six months pregnant, Claire goes to the cemetery.<br/>**I'd recommend reading "Trauma is a Tricky Thing," or this won't make sense.**</p>
            </blockquote>





	If on a Winter's Morning

**Author's Note:**

> Reviews are love!  
> I own nothing.

 

Claire felt her body gradually wake up and she fought it the whole time. Her husband’s son was just as much of an early riser as Owen. Six months into this crap, and Claire was no longer surprised when she was awake an hour before her alarm was set to go off. Nobody mentioned that you started losing sleep _before_ the baby was born. What a nightmare. Unfortunately, this time she was waking up to her alarm. She had somewhere to be.

Owen, however, did not, and was plastered to her side. The second she started showing, Owen got clingier, which was expected. If he was overprotective before, then she didn’t have a word for what he was now. It was a hop and a skip away from being controlling, and she’d called him out on it more than once. Claire laid out the boundaries like train tracks and he trucked right along. When that got frustrating for him, he directed his energy outward. The only person who was allowed to call her after 8:00 PM was Karen because she needed to rest and not be hassled about work. People who were not family were not allowed to touch her belly. He knew it freaked her out, and so he’d reverted back to his body guard stance from Isla Nublar. Claire had always been particular about her diet, and since she liked to cook and found it to be a soothing process, Owen insisted that she do it every night. He did all the shopping and made sure her cooking spaces and utensils were cleaned to her liking. It was sweet, but unnecessary. He did it anyway. Claire knew it was his way of coping with his own stress about the pregnancy. Like most men, he knew little to nothing about the female body. He stilled believed all the nonsense about late 30’s pregnancies. And if he didn’t _believe_ it, then he _worried_ about it. But the clinging while she slept was _maddening_. He already ran hot, and the pregnancy hormones made her sweat in 60 degree weather. Occupying the same space as her husband was suffocating.

“ _Owen_ ,” she whined out, trying to kick off the sheets. “Up. Too hot.” His response was a grunt and to nuzzle his face into her stomach. He claimed that he wanted to be able to feel it when the baby moved. Charlie was a strong little shit; he’d started moving around in there at 14 weeks, much sooner than she’d expected. “Seriously, Owen, I mean it.” He groaned and flopped onto his back, releasing her. The area around her dropped at least 20 degrees and she shivered. Didn’t matter she still had to get up. She kissed Owen’s temple, and rocked herself to get some momentum to roll out of bed. Dressing wasn’t a big issue since she knew she’d cover it up with her parka anyway. The temperature was supposed to drop, and she figured she’d be outside for a while.

The drive was longer than she remembered, which figured, since she hadn’t been this way in ages. But her parents hadn’t wanted to be buried in the city. No, wide open spaces, in the old parish cemetery where her grandparents and great grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins she’d never met were all buried.

It was the anniversary of her parents’ death. The exact year, she couldn’t even remember. But here was the day, and she was six months pregnant.

Claire pulled into the little lot, and trudged through the snow-covered grass, beyond the newer graves not yet marked, to the well-tended set near the middle. Karen came out once a month to clean up their parents’ final resting place. She’d plant fresh flowers if they were fading, put a wreath and an American flag at the corner. Claire also had the sneaking suspicion that Karen brought along scissors to trim the grass, maybe even a feather duster for the head stone. Hard to say with Karen. Claire, however, had stopped coming after the first anniversary. It was hard enough to be without them without devoting a whole day to sitting where their bodies were rotting away under a stone with their names carved on it. She didn’t talk about them much, and Owen rarely asked. Still, every year, Karen would call and ask if she wanted to come along. But, this year was different. This year she actually had something to tell them.

Claire stopped in front of their shared headstone, crossing her arms over the down of her parka and drawing in a heavy breath. _Jackson E. Dearing & Darla K. Dearing. _ Darla Dearing, it still made her chuckle a little. Their Grandpa John insisted that his daughter only married _that Dearing kid_ because of his last name. _Cutesy_ , he’d called it. Grandpa John lived four years longer than his daughter.

“Hey, Dad. Mom,” her voice trailed off. This was so weird. Why had she thought this would be a good idea? _Fight through it, Claire._ Isn’t that what her father had always told her to do? Push through? Fake it? Fight it? “So I’ve been good. Moved back to Madison! That should make you happy…I shouldn’t have left the way that I did. Should’ve called more. At least tried to visit. I felt so guilty about that first Christmas I missed that I put on ten pounds. It was stupid, but…Well, I miss _you_ now, so maybe that’s my punishment for being such a jerk.” Claire bit her lip and bounced nervously on the balls of her feet. It was a strange sensation, carrying all that extra weight, feeling so off center. Karen said it would be over before she got used to it anyway. “I got married,” she muttered, “I know, _shocking_ , but Owen’s…he’s amazing, and you’d love him. Really. And I’m…I’m pregnant.” Her hands went to her belly, absentmindedly rubbing circles there. “It’s a boy. Sorry Daddy, we didn’t name him after you…It’s complicated, but we named him after some of Owen’s…family. Sort of. Like I said, it’s complicated and it’s probably better that you don’t know the specifics.” She sighed. “I’d like to think that you’d be proud of me…but it’s hard to say anymore. So much has happened…but Charlie’s the one thing I’m probably doing best. I mean…Owen says that the work I’m doing at the zoo…Did I mention I work for the zoo now? We both do. Anyway, he says that I’m doing good stuff there, but it feels like everything else I’ve done, really. There’s a lot of schmoozing and pandering and money involved. But this _baby_ …Owen’s so happy, and Karen…”

“Karen’s really proud of her baby sister,” Karen said from behind Claire. Claire spun on her heel in her boots, probably too fast considering how off balance she felt. She almost slipped, but Karen caught her hands and steadied her.

“ _Karen_ ,” Claire hissed, “How long have you been standing there?!” It was downright embarrassing being caught in the middle of this mawkish display. Karen just shrugged and giggled.

“Long enough to tell you that Mom and Daddy would be very proud of you. Very proud.” Claire sucked in a breath and tears she didn’t know had formed started slipping down her cheeks. Damn hormones. Karen gave her a watery smile and cupped her younger sister’s cheeks. “I thought you might be here today. I also thought you’d come early to avoid me, so I did too.”

“Well that’s completely ridiculous…”

“And absolutely true,” Karen said crossing her arms. “If you’d said something I would’ve told you that it’s tough coming here alone for the first time. Especially since you’re pregnant. You didn’t want to bring Owen along?” Claire shook her head, unable to explain properly. It just hadn’t felt right, bringing someone they didn’t know here when she hadn’t come in so long. “I used to bring Scott with me. Then the boys. But lately, I’ve been coming along.” She kicked at the snow. “Everything’s so different now, you know? You’re married, I’m divorced. My baby’s all grown up and making a salary and you’re going to have a baby. Scott left Madison, you moved back.” Karen shrugged. “They’ve just missed so much.” Claire ducked under Karen’s arm and clung to her side, turning just so, so that they could look at the grave together.

“They’d be proud of you, too, you know. Raising Zack and Gray, keeping your career intact, standing up to Scott the way you did. They’d be proud of how brave you were.” Karen snorted, the irony of Claire calling _her_ brave was not lost on her. Claire playfully slapped at her stomach. “I’m being serious. It takes a lot of guts to do what you did and not completely fall apart on your kids. Scott’s an ass and he never deserved you.”

At that, Karen started giggling, and Claire wasn’t far behind her. Soon they collapsed together on the ground, holding each other up while laughing and snorting. There was nothing funny about a cemetery or a divorce or asshole husbands, but there they were giggling and guffawing like they were fifteen and seventeen and high on weed in their childhood treehouse for the first time. After settling down, Claire ducked her head to Karen’s shoulder, and Karen let her head rest on top of Claire’s.

“You’re gonna have a _baby_ ,” Karen whispered, kissing the crown of Claire’s head. Claire hummed. “You wonder if he’ll get Daddy’s nose? Do you remember how big it was?” Claire snorted. “No, I’m serious! What if he has that nose or mom’s crazy big eyes or her photographic memory. Remember that? She’d read something one time and be able to repeat it back word for word.”

“I remember it got you in trouble when she read those notes from Danny Hutton.”

“Oh shut up!” She kicked at Claire ankle, “Danny Hutton. What an idiot.”

“You dated him.”

“Only because Livvy Troy liked him.”

“That’s messed up, Kare.” They laughed again, letting out deep sighs.

“It’s like we’re bringing pieces of them back, you know? Gray definitely has Mom’s smarts. Zack can put anything together, car or otherwise, just like Daddy did. They have all these little mannerisms and expressions that remind me so much of them, it hurts… You’ll see when Charlie gets here.”

“Good,” Claire whispered, “good.” 


End file.
